It is generally understood that business entities exist primarily for the purpose of generating profits. Such entities, which may comprise any individual, organization or enterprise, typically offer one or more services or one or more products as a mean of generating revenue. In developing such services and/or products, entities will typically develop a high level of subject matter expertise in various areas concerning their services and/or products. A good example of this is an auto manufacturer that develops a wide array of subject matter expertise relating to the manufacture and sale of automobiles.
One aspect of profitability for such entities is their ability to obtain high quality goods and services from vendors at a reasonable price. In turn, the ability of a vendor to provide such high quality goods and services at a reasonable price often turns on the depth of knowledge the vendor has regarding the various aspects of the business of the entity to whom the vendor wishes to sell its goods and services. One solution that addresses the needs of both business entities and the vendors that supply them is to provide vendor certification programs in which vendors are provided the opportunity to develop greater understanding of the subject matter expertise possessed by the entity. In this manner, vendors are better able to meet the needs of the entity and do so in a more efficient manner, thereby allowing the vendor to charge for its goods and services at a more reasonable rate. In turn, the entity increases the likelihood that it will be able to acquire goods and services from vendors that are of a sufficiently high quality and reasonable cost to improve profitability performance.
One difficulty, however, with vendor certification programs is that they are often expensive for a given entity to implement, and typically do not provide sufficient revenue to the entity to justify the start-up costs. Furthermore, from the perspective of vendors attending such certification programs, there is no guarantee that attendance at such certification programs will confer any business advantage to the vendor relative to the entity providing the certification program. Thus, it would be advantageous to provide a technique whereby vendor certification programs may be more readily and efficiently provided by entities, and that provide a degree of incentive for vendors to participate.